Despite popular belief, timeshare is not a financial investment. Buying a timeshare is like buying a new car. The second it is purchased from a resort developer, it decreases in value by 50 – 90%. The average price of a timeshare is about $9,000, so that means the moment you sign on the dotted line you’ve basically just thrown away thousands and thousands of dollars.

Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let us explain what a timeshare is. There are many different types of timeshares, but in general they are a type of vacation ownership in which you own a piece of a unit within a resort. The timeshare is usually divided into 52 pieces because there are 52 weeks in a year and most timeshares are for 1-week each year. Timeshares can make you feel like you’ve purchased a vacation home, but, in reality they’re nothing more than an extremely overpriced piece of paper.

If you head over to Ebay and do a search for a timeshare such as Grandview in Las Vegas, you might be surprised to find that the timeshare is being sold by an individual owner for just $1. This is because many timeshare owners have found that their fees never end and they just want out. Timeshare owners are required to pay yearly fees that average around $850 per year. Many timeshare owners find that it’s cheaper to book a room in a hotel than to continue paying their obnoxious yearly maintenance fee and just want their timeshares to disappear. What they soon learn is that there is barely a market for their timeshare and it can be nearly impossible to get rid of it, so they offer it up for only $1.

Some resorts allow timeshare owners to give the timeshare back to them, but others do not. This is actually a recent development. In the past, almost all of the timeshare resorts refused to accept the timeshare back. Why would they? They get to sit back and collect that sweet, sweet maintenance fee money each year. Eventually though, timeshare developers learned that they could sell you a $9,000 timeshare, charge you to take it back, and then sell it again to someone else for $9,000. Capitalism at its finest folks!

If you own a timeshare and your resort refuses to take it back and you’re unable to sell it, you may want to look in to one of the many timeshare exit companies. Timeshare exit companies usually work with lawyers to help you cancel your contract with the resort. Sometimes their techniques are a little shady though, so you need to be careful. In fact, one of the most popular timeshare exit companies, Timeshare Exit Team, is being sued by a resort developer for its practices.

With all of this negativity, why would anyone in their right mind buy a timeshare? Well, for the most part, many people are pressured in to it. High pressure sales tactics are ripe in the timeshare industry. Lies are rampant and it’s not uncommon for a sales person to describe the product in a way that is absolutely untrue. Sometimes a timeshare resale can make sense though.

A timeshare resale is for sale by owner, so it can usually be purchased extremely cheaply. You’ll be on the hook for the yearly maintenance fees, but that’s not a big deal if you actually use the timeshare each year. Most timeshares are more spacious than hotel rooms and come with a kitchen, so it can feel a little more-homey. Some people like this enough to buy it.

In conclusion, never buy a timeshare from a resort developer directly. If you’re interested in purchasing one, make sure to buy resale. If you already own one, be careful when you’re trying to sell it. Don’t be fooled in to think it’s worth more than you paid for it as this is very rarely the case. Look at what others are pricing your timeshare for on Ebay, and you’ll get a good idea of its worth. Let us know of any questions in comments below!

This post was written by yours truly, Jon Elder. My mission is to help you succeed in your personal finance life. Join me on the journey to financial freedom! You can subscribe through RSS FEEDor EMAIL updates. You can also find me on TWITTER
and FACEBOOK
. Happy investing 🙂

This post was written by yours truly, Jon Elder. My mission is to help you succeed in your personal finance life. Join me on the journey to financial freedom! You can subscribe through RSS FEEDor EMAIL updates. You can also find me on TWITTER
and FACEBOOK
. Happy investing 🙂